Know Your Own Female Body

As a first-time parent, you find yourself facing the many challenges of parenthood without always knowing what to do and when to seek out the assistance of medical professionals. Many parents panic and take their child to the doctor at every sniffle or flush of the cheek, even when not necessary. And still others tend to not contact doctors even when they should. In order to be sure that you take your child to the doctor or walk in clinic when they need it, get to know some of the scenarios in which your child absolutely does need medical attention.

Persistent Fever (High or Low)

Fevers are one of the illness symptoms that are most misinterpreted by parents, especially first-time parents. They tend to think that any time their child has a fever that they need to go to the walk in clinic or ER. However, this is not always the case.

A fever is a sign that your child's body is trying to fight off an infection on its own. Oftentimes, therefore, your child's fever will break or subside on its own. However, there are some times when your child has a fever and needs medical attention.

One such scenario occurs when a child's fever is persistent over several days (generally four or more days). If your child has a fever that does not subside for this long, it likely means that their body is not successful in its solo efforts to stave off infection. So, whether the fever is high or low, after four days, you should head to the clinic to see what is going on.

Severe Vomiting and/or Diarrhea

Children have a tendency to have stomach issues from time to time. And vomiting and diarrhea are par for the course. However, once again, there is a difference between the standard vomiting and diarrhea that children experience and the worrisome kind.

When you child vomits continuously or repeatedly over the course of a day (or does the same with diarrhea), they can become severely dehydrated. The lack of fluids in their body cannot be easily remedied if they continue to vomit or experience diarrhea even after only consuming clear liquids.

So, if your child's vomiting and/or diarrhea is severe and continues for a prolonged period of time in which they cannot keep anything down, you will need to take them to the clinic or emergency room. In the doctor's office, they can administer fluids in a different way (IV fluids, perhaps), so that your child's dehydration can be remedied. They can also figure out what is causing the symptoms so that your child can get better sooner.

Now that you know a few of the scenarios that require medical attention for your child, you can better care for your child and be sure that you are taking them to the walk in clinic only when necessary.